In the SONAR 2 Power! book by Scott Garrigus, you will find helpful tips on an assortment of topics within SONAR 2.0. In part 4 of our series, we have collected a small sampling of tips from chapter 12 that deal with mixing down your tracks. Throughout the coming months we will continue to bring you more tips from SONAR 2 Power!

Adjusting sliders, knobs or faders

When you're adjusting sliders, knobs or faders in the "Console" view or parameters in the "Track" view, a quick way to return them to their original positions is to double-click them. When you do, the control snaps back to its default value. You can also change the default value for a control. To do so, set the control to the value you want to use as its default. Then right-click the control and choose "Set Snap-To=Current" from the pop-up menu.

Creating subgroups of different mixes for your project

Even if you have only one output on your sound card, you can have more than one main. By using more than one main, you can create subgroups of different mixes for your project. For example, you could send all your vocal tracks to one main, and all your drum tracks to another main. This would allow you to process each group of tracks with different effects. Also, if you have a sound card with only one output, but that output is stereo, you can set up one main to control the left channel and another main to control the right channel. To set up additional main modules, choose "Options > Audio" to open the "Audio Options" dialog box. Click the "General" tab. Then enter the number of mains you would like to set up in the "Number of Virtual Mains" parameter. You can have up to 64 mains.

Optimizing SONAR performance

If you need to lighten the load on your computer during the recording or playing, you might want to try turning off some or all of the meters. The meters can take up quite a bit of your computer's processing power and affect SONAR's performance.

Changing "Start" and "End" values of a control

You can also change the "Start" and "End" values of a control without having to open the "Group Properties" dialog box. Just set the control to the value that you want to set as the "Start" or "End", right-click the control, and select either "Set Start=Current" or "Set End=Current".

Using the "Offset" mode

Normally, during playback, if you have an envelope assigned to a track parameter, you cannot change that parameter because the envelope is controlling it. But SONAR provides a special mode in which you can add an offset to envelope values by changing parameters during playback. This mode is called the "Offset" mode and can be activated by clicking the "Envelope/Offset Mode" button in the "Track" view toolbar. This button toggles between "Envelope" mode and "Offset" mode. Also, be aware that when you return to "Envelope" mode, your last parameter offset settings are still in effect. So if you change a parameter in "Offset" mode and leave it, the parameter will still be offset even if you return to "Envelope" mode. A good use for this feature is if you have an envelope that's just about perfect, but you want to make an adjustment to the entire envelope without having to change all the nodes in the envelope.